The Occupy Wall Street movement is now a month old. The media, with their incessant need to pigeon hole, has no idea which cliche to turn to when describing the protesters.

Of course, the media misses the point of the protests, which is complicated but also as simple as saying that we want our democracy back from the corporations. We want our elected officials to start answering to their constituencies, not to the Chairman of Exxon Mobile or of Bank of America. If that single problem was solved, we would begin to see more jobs. We would begin to see less student debt. We would see single payer healthcare. I could go on.

But okay, let’s throw the media a bone. Who are the protesters? Who are the people playing bongos in their lululemon yoga pants? Before I get into that, I’d like to make a little side note. The media has made a big deal of the bongo drums, as if they somehow delegitimize the movement (and 21st century men carrying muskets and wearing powdered wigs represent a legitimate movement). When you spend 24 hours a day in the same place, you need something to do. Bongos are fun. They are an outlet for energy. They are social. Isn’t it better they hit the bongos than the cops that are hitting them?

Back to the question. Who are the protesters? The media calls them hippies or rich kids or slackers or yuppies. The protesters call themselves the 99%…the people who are in the bottom 99% income bracket in the United States. The top one percent of the country earns 35% of the wealth. The top 10% of the country earns over 70% of the wealth. The rest of us get the scraps. Presumably, the 99% would represent every demographic, including those in the upper incomes.

Author: Wendy GittlesonPolitical pundit, small business marketing guru, business blogger -- a true renaissance woman, which apparently makes her really old.
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